Judge Paulo Piropo de Abreu of the Federal Regional Tribunal
in Bahia said in a ruling on Monday he issued the injunction out
of concern the sale was not conducted with the transparency
required by the country's public tender laws.

This could hide corrupt practices damaging to Petrobras, as
the company is known, and harm public finances, he said. Piropo
de Abreu said Petrobras' involvement in a corruption scandal and
its move to sell $15.1 billion of assets by the end of the year
required him to prevent any final sale of the Gaspetro stake
until it faces a full, independent and public review.

"The time has arrived for the Judiciary to define if
Petrobras is following the same practices in its sale of assets
(as it has in the past)," the judge wrote. "These being: sales
without public tenders, secret negotiations, suspicion of
price-fixing, (and) with strong suspicion of illegality."

Petrobras has said it plans to speed up efforts to sell
oilfields, fertilizer, refining and other units to raise cash to
pay down $130 billion of debt, the largest of any oil company.

Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras has released little
information about the assets it is selling. Gaspetro, whose sale
was agreed last year, was the only major deal done so far and
raised less than 4 percent of the total asset-sale
goal.

The judge's ruling also blocks Mitsui from executing control
over gas distribution activities related to the sale and orders
Petrobras and Mitsui to turn over all sale-related documents
within five days.
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